Automatic correction of user input based on dictionary

ABSTRACT

Methods, systems, and apparatus, including computer program products, in which input keystroke data can be interpreted by a current mapping and a determination can be made whether the current mapping is valid based upon the characters identified by the mapping and the keystroke data. Invalid mappings can be corrected based upon alternative mapping of the keystroke data.

CROSS-REFERENCE TO RELATED APPLICATIONS

This Application claims priority under 35 U.S.C. § 119(e) to U.S.Provisional Application Ser. No. 60/969,458, filed on Aug. 31, 2007, thedisclosure of which is incorporated herein by reference.

BACKGROUND

This disclosure relates to automatically changing characters associatedwith a current keyboard layout to characters of another keyboard layout.

A search engine can allow a user to provide a search query for whichsearch results are returned in response. The query can include anycharacter that the user is capable of generating with his or her inputdevice. Input devices can have keys or buttons that are each capable ofproducing one of many characters. A keyboard, for example, can havemultiple keyboard layouts. Each keyboard layout typically corresponds tothe characters most frequency used within a particular writing system(e.g., a language). In countries whose writing systems are not based onthe Latin alphabet, keyboards usually have at least two keyboardlayouts, one for producing Latin characters (e.g., a US English keyboardlayout), and another for producing characters of another writing system(e.g., Cyrillic, Devānagarī, Arabic, etc.).

Users can switch between two or more keyboard layouts by invokingswitching command (e.g., using a single keystroke). The currentlyselected keyboard layout normally determines the characters produced byeach key of the keyboard. A user may inadvertently use their inputdevice to input keystrokes in one layout when they intended to input thekeystrokes in another layout. For example, a user searching for “news”may inadvertently submit “

” if the currently keyboard layout is a Hebrew keyboard layout, as thekeystrokes that produce the characters “

” in the Hebrew keyboard layout also produce the characters “news” onthe corresponding Latin keyboard layout.

SUMMARY

Apparatus, systems and methods related to the correction of input dataare disclosed herein. In some implementations, a method can includesreceiving keystroke data from a keyboard device; determining a currentkeyboard mapping for the keyboard device and that is associated with alanguage; determining current characters based on the keystroke data andthe current keyboard mapping; comparing the current characters to adictionary storing words, each of the words comprising a word in thelanguage; determining if the current keyboard mapping is valid based onthe comparison; if the current keyboard mapping is determined to bevalid, then accepting the characters as input; if the current keyboardmapping is determined not to be valid, then: selecting an alternativekeyboard mapping associated with an alternative language; determiningalternative characters based on the keystroke data and the alternativekeyboard mapping; comparing the alternative characters to an alternativedictionary storing words, each of the words comprising a word in thealternative language; and, determining if the alternative keyboardmapping is valid based on the comparison. Other embodiments of thisaspect include corresponding systems, apparatus, and computer programproducts.

Other methods include: receiving keystroke data for a keyboard inputdevice; determining a current keyboard mapping for the keyboard deviceand that is associated with a language; determining characters based onthe keystroke data and the current keyboard mapping; comparing thecharacters to words in the language; determining whether the charactersidentify a word in the language based upon the comparison; if thecharacters are determined to not identify a word in the language:selecting an alternative keyboard mapping associated with an alternativelanguage; determining alternative characters based on the keystroke dataand the alternative keyboard mapping; comparing the alternativecharacters to alternative words in the alternative language; andidentifying one or more alternative words based on the comparison. Otherembodiments of this aspect include corresponding systems, apparatus, andcomputer program products.

The details of one or more embodiments of the subject matter describedin this specification are set forth in the accompanying drawings and thedescription below. Other features, aspects, and advantages of thesubject matter will become apparent from the description, the drawings,and the claims.

BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS

FIG. 1 is a block diagram illustrating an example input correctionsystem.

FIG. 2 is a block diagram illustrating an example of the input module ofFIG. 1.

FIG. 3 is a block diagram illustrating an example of the comparisonmodule of FIG. 1.

FIG. 4 is a block diagram illustrating an example of the output moduleof FIG. 1.

FIG. 5 is a block diagram illustrating another example input correctionsystem.

FIG. 6 is a block diagram illustrating an example of the comparisonmodule of FIG. 5.

FIG. 7 is a block diagram illustrating an example of the transliterationmodule of FIG. 5.

FIG. 8 is a flowchart illustrating an example method of correcting aninput.

FIG. 9 is a flowchart illustrating another example method of correctingan input

Like reference numbers and designations in the various drawings indicatelike elements.

DETAILED DESCRIPTION

In various implementations of this disclosure, the systems of thisdisclosure can operate to correct an input based upon a determinationthat the input does not correspond to a dictionary entry. In someimplementations, the correction can be based on the selection of a mostlikely intended keyboard mapping. For example, if a user enters “

” and such a word does not appear in a Hebrew dictionary, it is likelythat the user intended to enter another word. In this example, theletters corresponding to “

” generate from a current Hebrew language keyboard mapping may notclosely correspond to any other word in the Hebrew language, butcorresponds to the letters n-e-w-s on a Latin/English language mappingof the keyboard. Thus, it is likely that the user intended to enter“news” rather than “

”

In some implementations, the correction can be based on transliteration.For example, the user might attempt to phonetically spell a word using amore familiar language. The phonetic spelling, however, may notcorrespond to a word in the language associated with the currentkeyboard mapping. For example, a user's first language might be English.However, the user might also speak another language (e.g., Hebrew orRussian), even though the user might not be proficient at writing in theother language. In such instances, the user can enter the wordphonetically and rely on a transliteration to provide the correct input.

FIG. 1 is a block diagram illustrating an example input correctionsystem 100. Input can be received for example, using an input module110. The input module, in various implementations, does not include akeyboard input device, e.g., the system 100 can be implemented in a webserver and receive data from a client device over the Internet. In otherimplementations, the input module can include a keyboard input device,e.g., the system can be implemented in a client computer, a mobilecommunication device, or some other computing device that includes akeyboard device.

The input module 110 is operable to receive keystroke data for akeyboard input device, and interpret the input data based upon a currentmapping associated with the keyboard input device. For example, if theuser is operating the keyboard input device in a Latin/English languagemode, the keyboard can be set up in the standard “QWERTY” layout. Inother examples, the keyboard input device can be set up in otherlayouts. As such, each key can map to a different input character basedupon the current mapping of the keyboard input device. The input modulecan receive the keyboard data and can interpret the keyboard data toproduce character data based upon the current mapping of the keyboardinput device.

A comparison module 120 can be used to compare the character data to aplurality of words in a plurality of dictionaries 130. In variousimplementations, the comparison module 120 can determine whether thecharacters entered by the user correspond to a word in the languageimplicated by the keyboard input device, or by an input method editor(IME). For example, the comparison module 120 can examine the input“news” and based upon determining that the current dictionary identifiedby the current mapping includes a corresponding word, the input can beaccepted. In another example, if the user enters a series of charactersthat do not appear in a current dictionary associated with the currentlanguage identified by the current mapping, the comparison module 120can attempt to identify an alternative candidate word.

In various implementations, alternative candidate words can beidentified by deriving alternative characters associated with thekeyboard input based upon different mappings of the keyboard. Forexample, a user might enter keystroke data corresponding to thecharacters “hartk” when the keyboard input device is in a Latin/Englishlayout. However, the same keystroke data corresponds to “

” (meaning “Israel” in Hebrew) when the input device is in a Hebrewlayout. Because the word “

” appears in a Hebrew dictionary, the comparison module can determinethat it is likely that when the user entered keystrokes corresponding to“hartk” in English, that the user intended to input the word “

” in Hebrew instead.

In some examples, the words may not provide exact matches in any of anumber of dictionaries. In some implementations, the comparison modulecan account for such examples by deriving a relevancy associated withalternative candidate words based upon a degree to which the charactersin the various languages match words in the various languages. Forexample, a first word might match six out of seven of the characters inone language, a second word might match five out of seven of thecharacters in another language, and a third word might match five out ofseven of the characters in a third language. In such an example, inaccordance with ranking based on relevance, the first word would belisted first, followed by the second and third words. In otherimplementations, only the most relevant word might be provided to theuser.

In another implementation, alternative candidate words can be rankedbased upon the frequency with which the alternative candidate words areused. In some such implementations, the frequency can be the frequencywith which a word is used by the user entering the keystroke data, orthe frequency with which a word is used based on a language model.

The output module 140 can provide an alternative candidate word to auser associated with the keystroke data. In some implementations, theoutput module 140 can automatically correct the input based upon thealternative candidate word(s) received from the comparison module 120.For example, when a user types “hartk”, the output module canautomatically correct the input to “

” In additional implementations, the output module can also instruct theinput module to change the current mapping based upon correcting theinput from the user.

In other implementations, the output module 140 can suggest changes tothe user. For example, if the user enters “hartk”, the output module 140can provide a pop-up window to the user suggesting that the input bechanged to “

”. In further implementations, the output module can also suggest to theuser to change the current mapping of the keyboard input to match thelanguage associated with the suggested correction.

FIG. 2 is a block diagram illustrating an example of the input module1110 of FIG. 1. The input module 110 can receive input from an interfacedevice (e.g., a keyboard) at stage 210. In various implementations, theinput can include keystroke data received from a keyboard.

At stage 220, the input module 110 can identify a current languagemapping associated with the keystroke data. In various implementations,the current language mapping can be identified by an input methodeditor, or by a system preference setting, or by some otherconfiguration device or configuration data. For example, if a keyboardmapping is set to Hebrew, and the user selects a key corresponding tothe “n” key on a Latin/English layout, the character “

” might be interpreted by the input module 110. In otherimplementations, the current language mapping can be identified by thekeyboard device.

At stage 230 the received keystrokes are mapped to characters based uponthe current language mapping identified by stage 220. In variousimplementations, the keystroke data can be interpreted as each keystrokeis entered. In other implementations, such as where several keystrokesmight identify a single character, the keystrokes can be interpreted incombination. The input module 110 can output the characters to acomparison module (e.g., comparison module 120 of FIG. 1).

FIG. 3 is a block diagram illustrating an example of the comparisonmodule 120 of FIG. 1. The comparison module 120 can receive characterdata from an input module (e.g., input module 110 of FIG. 1). At stage310, the comparison module can compare the characters received from theinput module to entries in a dictionary 130 a (e.g., recognized words).In various implementations, the dictionary 130 a can be provided by athird party service. In other implementations, the dictionary 130 a canbe a learned dictionary, e.g., of search queries or previously enteredwords. In further implementations, the dictionary 130 a can be acombination of words from a standard dictionary or third partydictionary service and words learned through use of the system.

In various implementations, the comparison module can derive a degree towhich the characters match a word from the dictionary (e.g., relevance).In such implementations, the degree to which the characters match a wordfrom the dictionary corresponds can be compared to a threshold degree,as shown at stage 320. If the characters match a word to a thresholddegree, the characters can be accepted as input and forwarded to theoutput module. In other implementations, the characters can be acceptedas input, and a spelling correction can be suggested. In still furtherimplementations, the characters can be accepted as input, and analternative candidate word can be suggested.

At stage 330, alternative characters can be derived based upon analternative mapping of the keystroke data. In various implementations,the comparison module can use any available alternative mapping toderive alternative characters. In some implementations, the availablealternative mappings can include only those alternative mappings whichhave previously been used by the user. Thus, for example, the comparisonmodule might not convert the keystroke data to characters in Afrikaansif the user has never previously used the input module to enter words inAfrikaans.

In various implementations, the potential dictionaries can also beidentified based upon a location of the computer associated with theuser. For example, the internet protocol (IP) address might beassociated with a particular geographic location. In other examples, apreferences in a web browser can be used to determine alternativedictionaries. In still further examples, cookies, operating systemsettings, as well as other preferences could be examined to determinewhich alternative dictionaries can be used.

At stage 340, the alternative characters can be compared to words froman alternative language. The words from the alternative language can beprovided by an alternative language dictionary 130 b. In someimplementations, the alternative language dictionary can be provided,for example by a third party service. In other implementations, thealternative language dictionary 130 b can be a learned dictionary thatcompiles previously used words entered using various language modes. Instill further implementations, the alternative language dictionary 130 bcan be a combination of standard dictionaries or third partydictionaries and learned dictionaries populated through previous usageof the input module. In other implementations, the dictionary can be alearned dictionary. A learned dictionary can be derived by examining allof the documents on the internet (e.g., from an index of the words onthe internet) and/or search queries received. In some implementations,words that appear in an index and/or in search queries can be eliminatedbased upon statistical models that indicate that the word is likely tobe a misspelling based upon the marginal use observed in networkactivity.

In various implementations, the alternative words may only providepartial matches to the characters corresponding to the keystroke data inthe various keyboard mappings. In such implementations, the comparisonmodule 120 can include a ranking module 350 operable to rank the wordsand/or alternative candidate words based upon their relevance (e.g.,percent match) to the characters and/or alternative characters. In othersuch implementations, the ranking module 350 can be operable to rank thewords and/or alternative candidate words based upon the frequency withwhich the word and/or alternative candidate word is used. For example,if the keystroke data corresponds to, e.g., either matches or has manycharacters in common with, a frequently used word in a first language,and also corresponds to a rarely used word in a second language, thecomparison module 120 can rank the frequently used word at a firstposition and the rarely used word at a second position. In variousimplementations, the frequency associated with a word use can be derivedbased upon the particular user entering the keystroke data or can bebased upon a language model associated with the respective language ofthe word or alternative candidate word. The comparison module 120 canoutput the result to an output module (e.g., output module 140 of FIG.1).

FIG. 4 is a block diagram illustrating an example of the output module140 of FIG. 1. At stage 410, the output module can receive a result of acomparison module (e.g., comparison module 120 of FIG. 1) and determinewhether the result includes an alternative candidate word. In thoseexamples, where the result does not include an alternative candidateword, the output module 140 merely outputs the word derived from thekeystroke data received from a user through an interface at stage 420.

If the results of the comparison module 120 include an alternativecandidate word, the output module 140 generates a listing of thealternative candidate words at stage 430. In various implementations,the listing of the alternative candidate words can be ordered based upona ranking received from the comparison module. For example, thealternative candidate words can be listed in order of relevance orfrequency of use, among others.

At stage 440, the listing of alternative candidate words is output tothe user through an interface. In various implementations, the listingof the alternative candidate words can be output to the user in the formof a pop-up providing suggestions to the user. In other implementations,a most probable alternative candidate word can be output to the user byreplacing the characters identified by the keystroke data and thecurrent keyboard mapping.

FIG. 5 is a block diagram illustrating another example input correctionsystem 500. Input can be received for example, using an input module510. The input module 510, in various implementations, does not includea keyboard input device, e.g., the system 100 can be implemented in aweb server and receive data from a client device over the Internet. Inother implementations, the input module 510 can include a keyboard inputdevice, e.g., the system can be implemented in a client computer, amobile communication device, or some other computing device thatincludes a keyboard device. The input module 510 is operable to receivekeystroke data for a keyboard input device, and interpret the input databased upon a current mapping associated with the keyboard input device.The input module 510 can determine the characters associated with thekeystroke data based upon the current mapping associated with thekeyboard device.

A comparison module 520 can be used to compare the character data to aplurality of words in a current dictionary 530 associated with thecurrent keyboard mapping. In various implementations, the comparisonmodule 520 can determine whether the characters entered by the usercorrespond to a word in the language defined by the current keyboardmapping and based upon the presence of the character string in thecurrent dictionary. For example, the comparison module 520 can examinethe input “news” and based upon determining that the current dictionary530 identified by the current mapping includes a corresponding word, theinput can be accepted. In such examples, the comparison module 520 canaccept the input and instruct an output module 540 to provide theoutput. In another example, if the user enters a series of charactersthat do not appear in the current dictionary 530 associated with thecurrent language identified by the current mapping, the comparisonmodule 520 can determine that the characters were not intended to beentered using the current mapping.

In some implementations, the user might attempt to phonetically spell aword using a more familiar language. For example, a user's firstlanguage might be English. However, the user might also speak anotherlanguage (e.g., Chinese, Hebrew or Russian), even though the user mightnot be proficient at writing in the other language. As such, the usermight desire to provide input in the other language but be unable tospell the word properly. In other examples, users may just not want tochange input methods, and instead keep an input method editor in thecurrent mode and provide a phonetic version (e.g., transliteration) ofthe foreign language word. In such instances, the user can provide atransliteration and rely on a transliteration module 550 to provide thecorrect input.

The transliteration module 550 can derive a transliteration associatedwith the keystrokes and based upon the current mapping of a keyboardinput device. For example, if a user desires to enter “Jerusalem” inHebrew, the user might enter “Yerushalaim” (or “Yerrushallim”). Thetransliteration module 550 can identify the transliteration entered inthe current mapping, and compare the transliteration to an alternativedictionary 560 (or dictionaries) to derive an alternative candidate wordassociated with the transliteration. In the example above, the usercould enter “Yerushalaim” and the transliteration module 550 can providean alternative candidate word, e.g., the native spelling of Jerusalem(e.g., “

”).

In various implementations, the transliteration module 550 can include afixed mapping of characters or groups of characters from one language toanother. For example, a character or group of characters in one languagecan be translated to the same character in the foreign language basedupon the fixed transliteration mapping. The converted transliterationcan then be compared to words in a foreign language dictionary todetermine the likelihood that the conversion of the transliteration tothe foreign language characters is correct.

However, in other implementations, the transliteration module 550 caninclude the intelligence to learn new transliterations from usages thatthe transliteration module observes in documents and queries receivedfrom a network (e.g., the Internet). In various examples,transliterations can change over time as language evolves. Therefore, afixed mapping of transliterations might become inaccurate over time.Moreover, transliterations are informal mechanisms for language with noformal or defined rules. The popularity of various transliterations canrise or fall over time without any formal announcement of such. Thus, insuch implementations, the transliteration module 550 can derive acurrent transliteration mapping by observing usage by users in myriadseed documents to determine which characters or groups of characters mapto a given foreign language. The transliteration module 550 can furtherobserve keywords entered by users and/or web documents in the specificlanguages whose transliteration patterns are to be implemented and adaptthe transliteration mappings to account for new usages based uponconnections that the transliteration module 550 discovers usersimplementing.

The output module 540 can provide an alternative candidate word to auser associated with the keystroke data. In some implementations, theoutput module 140 can automatically correct the input based upon thealternative candidate word(s) received from the comparison module 540.For example, when a user types “Yerushalaim”, the output module canautomatically correct the input to “

”. In additional implementations, the output module 540 can alsoinstruct the input module 510 to change the current mapping based uponcorrecting the input from the user. In other implementations, the outputmodule 540 can suggest changes to the user. For example, if the userenters “Yerushalaim”, the output module 540 can provide a pop-up windowto the user suggesting: “Did you mean:

?”

FIG. 6 is a block diagram illustrating an example of the comparisonmodule 520 of FIG. 5. The comparison module 520 can receive characterdata from an input module (e.g., input module 510 of FIG. 5). At stage610, the comparison module 520 can compare the character data todictionary data to determine whether the character data matches a wordassociated with the current dictionary 530. The current dictionary 530can include many words in the language of the current keyboard mapping.In various implementations, the dictionary can be provided by a thirdparty service. In other implementations, the dictionary can be compiledbased upon user input. In still further implementations, the dictionarycan be based upon a language model, and can be supplemented by use of aninput module.

At stage 620, the comparison module 520 determines whether there is athreshold match between the characters and any words found in thecurrent dictionary 530. If there is a threshold match, the comparisonmodule accepts the input and instructs an output module (e.g., outputmodule 540 of FIG. 5) to provide the output to the user. If there is nothreshold match between the characters and any words found in thecurrent dictionary 530, the comparison module communicates thecharacters to a transliteration module (e.g., transliteration module 550of FIG. 5). In various implementations the threshold match can define adegree to which the characters correspond to a word to be considered amatch. In other examples, thresholds can be used to determine whetherthe alternative characters are considered a match for an alternativeword, or a transliteration is considered a match a alternative word. Forexample, “neww” can be considered a threshold match for “news.” Invarious implementations, the threshold to determine a match can beadjusted based upon user input.

FIG. 7 is a block diagram illustrating an example of the transliterationmodule 550 of FIG. 5. The transliteration module 550 can receivecharacter data from a comparison module (e.g., comparison module 520 ofFIG. 5). At stage 710, the transliteration module 550 can derivetransliterated characters associated with the keystrokes and based uponthe current mapping and the language of the current mapping. Forexample, if a user desires to enter “Jerusalem” in Hebrew, the usermight enter “Yerushalaim” (or “Yerrushallim”).

After the transliteration module 550 identifies the transliteratedcharacters entered in the current mapping, it can compare thetransliterated characters to an alternative dictionary 560 (ordictionaries) to derive an alternative candidate word associated withthe transliterated input as shown at stage 720. In the example above,the user could enter “Yerushalaim” and the transliteration module 550can provide an alternative candidate word, e.g., the native spelling ofJerusalem (e.g., “

”).

FIG. 8 is a flowchart illustrating an example method 800 of correctingan input. At stage 805, input can be received. The input can bereceived, for example, by an input module (e.g., input module 110 ofFIG. 1). In various implementations, the input can be received from aninput device such as a keyboard.

At stage 810, a current mapping is determined. The current mapping canbe determined, for example, by an input module (e.g., input module 110of FIG. 1). In various implementations, the current mapping can beidentified, for example, by an input method editor (IME) or an operatingsystem, or the keyboard itself. In various implementations, the currentmapping can take a particular keystroke and map that keystroke to aparticular character (e.g., in accordance with a Unicode standard).

At stage 815, characters are identified. The characters can beidentified, for example, by an input module (e.g., input module 110 ofFIG. 1). In various implementations, the characters can be identified bymapping received input (e.g., keystroke data) to a character based uponthe current mapping.

At stage 820, a determination made whether the current mapping is valid.The determination of whether a current mapping is valid can be made, forexample, by a comparison module (e.g., comparison module 120 of FIG. 1)in conjunction with an output module (e.g., output module 140 of FIG.1). In various examples, the comparison module can determine thevalidity of the current mapping by comparing the characters identifiedby the keystrokes and the current mapping to words included in adictionary associated with the language of the current mapping.

If the current mapping is not valid, an alternative mapping can beselected at stage 835. The alternative mapping can be selected, forexample, by a comparison module (e.g., comparison module 120 of FIG. 1).In various implementations, the alternative mapping can include anymappings previously used by the user associated with the input. In otherimplementation, the alternative mapping can include any mappingsavailable, for example, to an input method editor or operating system.

At stage 840, a plurality of alternative characters are identified. Theplurality of alternative characters can be identified, for example, by acomparison module (e.g., comparison module 120 of FIG. 1). In variousimplementations, the alternative characters can be derived based uponthe alternative mapping(s) selected at stage 835.

At stage 845, the alternative characters are compared to alternativewords. The alternative characters can be compared to alternative words,for example, by a comparison module (comparison module 120 of FIG. 1) inconjunction with a dictionary (e.g., dictionary 130 of FIG. 1). Invarious implementations, the alternative words can be provided, forexample, by an alternative dictionary associated with the alternativemapping. The alternative dictionary can be provided by any of a thirdparty service, a learned dictionary, or combinations thereof. Otheralternative dictionaries can also be used.

At stage 850, alternative candidate words are identified. Thealternative candidate words can be identified, for example, by acomparison module (e.g., comparison module 120 of FIG. 1). In variousimplementations, the alternative candidate words can be identified basedupon finding a threshold match between the alternative candidate wordsand the alternative characters identified by the alternative mappings.In some implementations the alternative candidate words can be rankedaccording to frequency of use, relevancy, or combinations thereof. Otherrankings, and combinations thereof, can also be used.

FIG. 9 is a flowchart illustrating another example method 900 ofcorrecting an input. At stage 905, input can be received. The input canbe received, for example, by an input module (e.g., input module 510 ofFIG. 5). In various implementations, the input can be received from aninput device such as a keyboard.

At stage 910, a current mapping is determined. The current mapping canbe determined, for example, by an input module (e.g., input module 510of FIG. 5). In various implementations, the current mapping can beidentified, for example, by an input method editor (IME) or an operatingsystem, or the keyboard itself. In various implementations, the currentmapping can take a particular keystroke and map that keystroke to aparticular character (e.g., in accordance with a Unicode standard).

At stage 915, characters are identified. The characters can beidentified, for example, by an input module (e.g., input module 510 ofFIG. 5). In various implementations, the characters can be identified bymapping received input (e.g., keystroke data) to a character based uponthe current mapping.

At stage 920, a determination made whether the current mapping is valid.The determination of whether a current mapping is valid can be made, forexample, by a comparison module (e.g., comparison module 520 of FIG. 5)in conjunction with a current dictionary (e.g., current dictionary 530of FIG. 5) and an output module (e.g., output module 540 of FIG. 5). Invarious examples, the comparison module can determine the validity ofthe current mapping by comparing the characters identified by thekeystrokes and the current mapping to words included in a dictionaryassociated with the language of the current mapping.

If the current mapping is not valid, a transliteration can be derived atstage 935. The transliteration can be derived, for example, by atransliteration module (e.g., transliteration module 550 of FIG. 5). Invarious implementations, the transliteration can be based upon thecurrent mapping of keystroke data to characters in a foreign language.For example, if the user entered “Yerushalaim” the transliteration couldbe based on transliteration mapping associated with the letters includedin the word “Yerushalaim.”

At stage 940, the transliteration is compared to alternative languagewords. The transliteration can be compared to the alternative languagewords, for example, by a transliteration module (e.g., transliterationmodule 550 of FIG. 1) in conjunction with an alternative dictionary(e.g., alternative dictionary 560 of FIG. 5). In variousimplementations, the alternative dictionary can include transliterationsassociated with a plurality of words included in the alternativedictionary.

At stage 945, alternative candidate words are identified. Thealternative candidate words can be identified, for example, by atransliteration module (e.g., transliteration module 550 of FIG. 5). Invarious implementations, the alternative candidate words can beidentified based upon finding a threshold match between thetransliteration of the characters and words included in an alternativedictionary. In some implementations the alternative candidate words canbe ranked according to frequency of use, relevancy (e.g., percentagematch or confidence), or combinations thereof. Other rankings, andcombinations thereof, can also be used. In various implementations, analternative candidate word can be used as input to a search engine toperform a search of internet documents with relevance to the alternativecandidate word.

In other implementations, the transliteration module 550 of FIG. 5 canbe combined with the comparison module 110 of FIG. 1 into a singlesystem, thereby allowing for hybrid entry of keystrokes data. Forexample, if the keystroke data were associated with a search query, theuser might enter part of the query to be matched using the alternativemapping of the keystroke data, and part of the query can be entered tobe matched using transliteration of the keystroke data. Alternatively,the systems of FIGS. 1 and 5 can be combined and perform parallelprocessing on the keystroke data, and the corresponding candidate wordscan be combined, ranked and presented to the user based on the rank.

In various examples, the input can be a search query to be used as inputfor a search engine. In such examples, the search query is typically aphrase (e.g., more than one word). In those examples where the inputincludes a phrase, several alternative candidate phrases can begenerated by applying a transposer (e.g., the comparison module 120 ofFIG. 1) and/or the transliteration module to the various words in thephrase. The various words in the phrase can also be submitted to acontext spelling corrector module operable to interpret the phrase anddetermine if a spell corrected version of the phrase in the samelanguage would better match the input. Each of the transposer,transliteration module and the spell corrector module can produce scoresfor alternative candidate phrases. Given the scores, the alternativecandidate phrase with the best score can be selected.

In some implementations, the scores of different phrases can bedowngraded by a selected value before the comparison of the scores. Theselected value for the downgrade can be determined, for example, by thenumber of segments in the phrase which have passed through the IMEtransposer or the transliteration engine. A score downgrade can reflectthe approximate unlikelihood that a user would enter a heavily mixedquery.

In various implementations, alternative candidate phrases can beidentified by enumerating for each word in the original phrase on allfour possible modes: 1) leaving the word unchanged; 2) applying atransposer; 3) applying a transliteration module; 4) applying atransposer followed by a transliteration module.

In other implementations, alternative candidate phrases can beidentified by scoring the original phrase, a transposition of theoriginal phrase, a transliteration of the original phrase, and atransposition of the entire phrase followed by a transliterating theentire phrase. In additional implementations, a partial list of phrasescan be identified based upon applying a transposer or a transliterationmodule on a subset of the original phrase. In those implementations,where a partial list of phrases is identified, the partial list ofphrases is constructed by: identifying a transposition of each word inthe original phrase, a transliteration of each word in the originalphrase, and a transliteration of the transposition of each word in theoriginal phrase. A word scorer can be applied for the varioustransformations of the word, including applying the word scorer to theoriginal word a it appeared in the original phrase. Then, a number ofphrases with best aggregated scores can be chosen. Thus, for eachcandidate phrase we sum up the scores associated with the individualwords included in the original phrase or alternative candidate words andselect the phrase with the best score to use as a search query for asearch engine.

Embodiments of the subject matter and the functional operationsdescribed in this specification can be implemented in digital electroniccircuitry, or in computer software, firmware, or hardware, including thestructures disclosed in this specification and their structuralequivalents, or in combinations of one or more of them. Embodiments ofthe subject matter described in this specification can be implemented asone or more computer program products, i.e., one or more modules ofcomputer program instructions encoded on a tangible program carrier forexecution by, or to control the operation of, data processing apparatus.The tangible program carrier can be a propagated signal or a computerreadable medium. The propagated signal is an artificially generatedsignal, e.g., a machine generated electrical, optical, orelectromagnetic signal, that is generated to encode information fortransmission to suitable receiver apparatus for execution by a computer.The computer readable medium can be a machine readable storage device, amachine readable storage substrate, a memory device, a composition ofmatter effecting a machine readable propagated signal, or a combinationof one or more of them.

The term “data processing apparatus” encompasses all apparatus, devices,and machines for processing data, including by way of example aprogrammable processor, a computer, or multiple processors or computers.The apparatus can include, in addition to hardware, code that creates anexecution environment for the computer program in question, e.g., codethat constitutes processor firmware, a protocol stack, a databasemanagement system, an operating system, or a combination of one or moreof them.

A computer program (also known as a program, software, softwareapplication, script, or code) can be written in any form of programminglanguage, including compiled or interpreted languages, or declarative orprocedural languages, and it can be deployed in any form, including as astand alone program or as a module, component, subroutine, or other unitsuitable for use in a computing environment. A computer program does notnecessarily correspond to a file in a file system. A program can bestored in a portion of a file that holds other programs or data (e.g.,one or more scripts stored in a markup language document), in a singlefile dedicated to the program in question, or in multiple coordinatedfiles (e.g., files that store one or more modules, sub programs, orportions of code). A computer program can be deployed to be executed onone computer or on multiple computers that are located at one site ordistributed across multiple sites and interconnected by a communicationnetwork.

The processes and logic flows described in this specification can beperformed by one or more programmable processors executing one or morecomputer programs to perform functions by operating on input data andgenerating output. The processes and logic flows can also be performedby, and apparatus can also be implemented as, special purpose logiccircuitry, e.g., an FPGA (field programmable gate array) or an ASIC(application specific integrated circuit).

Processors suitable for the execution of a computer program include, byway of example, both general and special purpose microprocessors, andany one or more processors of any kind of digital computer. Generally, aprocessor will receive instructions and data from a read only memory ora random access memory or both. The essential elements of a computer area processor for performing instructions and one or more memory devicesfor storing instructions and data. Generally, a computer will alsoinclude, or be operatively coupled to receive data from or transfer datato, or both, one or more mass storage devices for storing data, e.g.,magnetic, magneto optical disks, or optical disks. However, a computerneed not have such devices. Moreover, a computer can be embedded inanother device, e.g., a mobile telephone, a personal digital assistant(PDA), a mobile audio or video player, a game console, a GlobalPositioning System (GPS) receiver, to name just a few.

Computer readable media suitable for storing computer programinstructions and data include all forms of non volatile memory, mediaand memory devices, including by way of example semiconductor memorydevices, e.g., EPROM, EEPROM, and flash memory devices; magnetic disks,e.g., internal hard disks or removable disks; magneto optical disks; andCD ROM and DVD ROM disks. The processor and the memory can besupplemented by, or incorporated in, special purpose logic circuitry.

To provide for interaction with a user, embodiments of the subjectmatter described in this specification can be implemented on a computerhaving a display device, e.g., a CRT (cathode ray tube) or LCD (liquidcrystal display) monitor, for displaying information to the user and akeyboard and a pointing device, e.g., a mouse or a trackball, by whichthe user can provide input to the computer. Other kinds of devices canbe used to provide for interaction with a user as well; for example,feedback provided to the user can be any form of sensory feedback, e.g.,visual feedback, auditory feedback, or tactile feedback; and input fromthe user can be received in any form, including acoustic, speech, ortactile input.

Embodiments of the subject matter described in this specification can beimplemented in a computing system that includes a back end component,e.g., as a data server, or that includes a middleware component, e.g.,an application server, or that includes a front end component, e.g., aclient computer having a graphical user interface or a Web browserthrough which a user can interact with an implementation of the subjectmatter described is this specification, or any combination of one ormore such back end, middleware, or front end components. The componentsof the system can be interconnected by any form or medium of digitaldata communication, e.g., a communication network. Examples ofcommunication networks include a local area network (“LAN”) and a widearea network (“WAN”), e.g., the Internet.

The computing system can include clients and servers. A client andserver are generally remote from each other and typically interactthrough a communication network. The relationship of client and serverarises by virtue of computer programs running on the respectivecomputers and having a client server relationship to each other.

While this specification contains many specific implementation details,these should not be construed as limitations on the scope of anyinvention or of what may be claimed, but rather as descriptions offeatures that may be specific to particular embodiments of particularinventions. Certain features that are described in this specification inthe context of separate embodiments can also be implemented incombination in a single embodiment. Conversely, various features thatare described in the context of a single embodiment can also beimplemented in multiple embodiments separately or in any suitablesubcombination. Moreover, although features may be described above asacting in certain combinations and even initially claimed as such, oneor more features from a claimed combination can in some cases be excisedfrom the combination, and the claimed combination may be directed to asubcombination or variation of a subcombination.

Similarly, while operations are depicted in the drawings in a particularorder, this should not be understood as requiring that such operationsbe performed in the particular order shown or in sequential order, orthat all illustrated operations be performed, to achieve desirableresults. In certain circumstances, multitasking and parallel processingmay be advantageous. Moreover, the separation of various systemcomponents in the embodiments described above should not be understoodas requiring such separation in all embodiments, and it should beunderstood that the described program components and systems cangenerally be integrated together in a single software product orpackaged into multiple software products.

Particular embodiments of the subject matter described in thisspecification have been described. Other embodiments are within thescope of the following claims. For example, the actions recited in theclaims can be performed in a different order and still achieve desirableresults. As one example, the processes depicted in the accompanyingfigures do not necessarily require the particular order shown, orsequential order, to achieve desirable results. In certainimplementations, multitasking and parallel processing may beadvantageous.

1. A computer implemented method comprising: receiving keystroke datafrom a keyboard input device; determining a current mapping for thekeyboard input device in response to a language for the keyboard inputdevice; identifying characters responsive to the keystroke data and thecurrent mapping; comparing the characters to words in the language;determining whether the characters identify a word in the language basedupon the comparison; if a word is identified, accepting the charactersas input; if no word is identified, then: selecting an alternativekeyboard mapping associated with an alternative language; determiningalternative characters based on the keystroke data and the alternativekeyboard mapping; comparing the alternative characters to alternativewords in an alternative dictionary, the alternative dictionary storingalternative words for an alternative language; and determining that thealternative keyboard mapping is valid if the alternative charactersmatch an alternative word in the alternative dictionary.
 2. The computerimplemented method of claim 1, further comprising: selecting one or morecandidate words if the alternative characters match an alternative wordin the dictionary; and providing the one or more candidate words on auser device.
 3. The computer implemented method of claim 2, wherein acandidate word is ranked based upon an edit distance to the alternativeinput characters.
 4. The computer implemented method of claim 2, whereina candidate word is ranked according to a frequency of usage comprisinga frequency with which the word is occurs in query logs.
 5. The computerimplemented method of claim 2, wherein a candidate word is rankedaccording to a frequency of usage comprising a frequency with which theword is used in a language model.
 6. The computer implemented method ofclaim 1, further comprising: selecting one or more candidate words ifthe alternative characters match an alternative word in the dictionary;and providing the one or more candidate words to a search engineinterface.
 7. The computer implemented method of claim 1, furthercomprising: entering the word or alternative candidate word into asearch query; and performing a search of internet documents based uponthe search query.
 8. The computer implemented method of claim 1, whereindetermining a current mapping for the keyboard device comprisesretrieving the language from web browser preferences or browser cookies,an input method editor (IME), an operating system, or the keyboard inputdevice.
 9. The computer implemented method of claim 1, whereindetermining a current mapping for the keyboard device comprises:identifying a language corresponding to a geolocation of the keyboarddevice; and determining the current mapping related to the language. 10.The computer implemented method of claim 1, further comprising derivingthe alternative keyboard mappings and the alternative dictionary frombrowser settings, operating system settings, or browser cookies.
 11. Acomputer implemented method comprising: receiving keystroke data for akeyboard input device; determining a current keyboard mapping for thekeyboard device and that is associated with a language; determiningcharacters based on the keystroke data and the current keyboard mapping;comparing the characters to words in the language; determining whetherthe characters identify a word in the language based upon thecomparison; if the characters are determined to not identify a word inthe language: selecting an alternative keyboard mapping associated withan alternative language; determining alternative characters based on thekeystroke data and the alternative keyboard mapping; comparing thealternative characters to alternative words in the alternative language;and identifying one or more alternative words if the alternativecharacters match alternative words in the alternative language.
 12. Thecomputer implemented method of claim 11, wherein determining a currentmapping for the keyboard device comprises retrieving the language fromweb browser preferences or cookies, an input method editor (IME), anoperating system, or the keyboard input device.
 13. The computerimplemented method of claim 11, wherein determining a current mappingfor the keyboard device comprises: identifying a language correspondingto a geolocation of the keyboard device; and determining the currentmapping related to the language.
 14. The computer implemented method ofclaim 11, further comprising deriving the alternative keyboard mapping,alternative language and the alternative dictionary from browsersettings, operating system settings, browser cookies, or user history.15. Software stored in one or more computer readable media andcomprising instruction executable by a processing system, and upon suchexecution causing the processing system to perform operationscomprising: receiving a plurality keystrokes associated with a keyboard;identifying a plurality of characters based on the plurality ofkeystrokes and a current language associated with the keyboard device;comparing the plurality of characters to a plurality of words in thecurrent language; determining whether the plurality of charactersidentifies a word in the language if an edit distance between theplurality of characters and the plurality of words in the currentlanguage is above a threshold edit distance; if the plurality ofcharacters does not identify a word in the language: identifying aplurality of alternative characters using an alternative mapping of thekeyboard in one or more alternative languages; comparing the pluralityof alternative characters with a plurality of alternative wordsassociated with one or more alternative languages; identifying one ormore candidate alternative words if an edit distance between theplurality of alternative characters and the plurality of alternativewords in the one or more alternative language.
 16. The software of claim15, the instructions further operable to cause the processing system toperform a further operation comprising providing the one or morecandidate alternative words to a user device.
 17. The software of claim16, the instructions further operable to cause the processing system toperform a further operation comprising providing the one or morecandidate alternative words in a list ordered from most frequently usedalternative words to least frequently used alternative words
 18. Thesoftware of claim 16, the instructions further operable to cause theprocessing system to perform a further operation comprising providingthe one or more candidate alternative words in a list ordered by an editdistance between the alternative characters and the one or morecandidate alternative words.
 19. The software of claim 15, theinstructions further operable to cause the processing system to performa further operation comprising providing the one or more candidatealternative words to a search engine interface.
 20. A system comprising:an input module operable to receive keystroke data from a keyboard inputdevice and to map the keystroke data to characters based upon a currentmapping associated with the keyboard input device; a comparison moduleoperable to: compare the characters to words identified by a dictionaryassociated with the current mapping, accept the characters based uponidentifying a threshold match between the characters and a word; derivealternative characters based on the keystroke data when a thresholdmatch is not identified; and compare the alternative characters toalternative words associated with an alternative dictionary to identifyan alternative candidate word; and an output module operable to providethe word or the alternative candidate word to a user.
 21. The system ofclaim 20, wherein the input module is further operable to identify thecurrent mapping for the keyboard device from the language from webbrowser preferences or cookies, an input method editor (IME), anoperating system, or the keyboard input device.
 22. The system of claim20, wherein the input module is further operable to identify the currentmapping for the keyboard device comprises through identification of alanguage corresponding to a geolocation of the keyboard device and toidentify the current mapping related to the language.
 23. The system ofclaim 20, wherein the comparison module is operable to selectalternative keyboard mappings, alternative languages and the alternativedictionaries responsive to browser settings, operating system settings,browser cookies, or user history.